Intro from the article:
"Our readers have been frustrated by the inability to get more than 1500MB/s from Samsung SM951 flash blades mounted in slots 3 and 4 of the 2009-2012 Mac Pro tower. The x16 slot 2 has not been a helpful -- until now. One of those frustrated readers turned us on to a new x16 PCIe M.2 carrier board by Amfeltec in Canada. We obtained a sample which we populated with four SM951s. After striping them (RAID 0), we ran our storage benchmarks."

Thanks for the info. I am not familiar with this, may I know how to monitor this X58 chipset's temperature. Is this parameter available in iStat?

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Yes it's the PCH/IOH reading. Idle temperature in cMP is 70-75c. Intel's manual recommends 20c less and the EVGA SR-2 had the proper cooling system for the X58 chipset to stay under 60C.

If you get this adapter I'd recommend 2 X RAID0 sets for the most practical multiplayer 4K editing. There are also limits to how well the viewport in Premiere and After Effects perform. There comes a point where no matter how fast the drive you use the viewport won't perform any better because it is held back by CPU, GPU and media APIs.

From memory, intel says that chip can work up to something like 105C, isn't it? So, even though our idle temperature is much higher, but still far from the upper limit, am I right?

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Over 95C the system will become unstable and shut off. Running it close to those temperatures daily will just reduce the lifespan of the chipset. Also the Barefeats article notes that a RAID that fast causes the SSDs to operate at their maximum recommended temperatures. These SSDs haven't been on the market long enough to tell how well they handle this heat in long term.

the Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 does not use the X58 chipset thats a common misconception it uses the a Server/workstation chipset from intel that uses the same CPUs (I don't remember the model number exactly im sure others can chip in) but I have never seen a North bridge die on a Mac pro 4,1/5,1 (apart from when the Plastic rivets break and the heat sink falls off)

the Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 does not use the X58 chipset thats a common misconception it uses the a Server/workstation chipset from intel that uses the same CPUs (I don't remember the model number exactly im sure others can chip in) but I have never seen a North bridge die on a Mac pro 4,1/5,1 (apart from when the Plastic rivets break and the heat sink falls off)

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Because you have never seen a Northbridge using PCIE RAIDs, x5690 upgrades and modern GPU upgrades long enough, therefore you should maintain precaution. In the last year enthusiasts have been pushing the chipset beyond what it was meant for. That's OK if some people have money to throw away, but they should also give good advice to people on a budget.

Yes I meant Intel 5520 chipset,(this is what Windows reports), but it basically has the same spec sheet as X58 so sometimes on PC and Mac forums they are used interchangeably, though it does help to be specific. The EVGA SR2 I mentioned is based on Intel 5520 and runs a lot cooler.

Dual processor Nehalem-based Xeon chipsets[edit]
The Nehalem-based Xeons for dual-socket systems, initially launched as the Xeon 55xx series, feature a very different system structure: the memory controllers are on the CPU, and the CPUs can communicate with one another as peers without going via the chipset. This means that the 5500 and 5520 (initial codename Tylersburg-EP) chipsets are essentially QPI to PCI Express interfaces; the 5520 is more intended for graphical workstations and the 5500 for servers that do not need vast amounts of PCI Express connectivity

Yes I meant Intel 5520 chipset,(this is what Windows reports), but it basically has the same spec sheet as X58 so sometimes on PC and Mac forums they are used interchangeably, though it does help to be specific.

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The X-series chipsets for the high end Core CPUs are nearly the same as the Xeon chipsets for the same socket. In fact, Dell says that my E5-1650v2 Precision Workstation has a C602 chipset. CPU-Z reports it as an X79.

(Note that this is a 1000 page PDF that details physical parameters, socket pinouts, signals, electrical and thermal parameters for the chipset - to use the same datasheet the C600 and X79 have to be basically the same silicon with some market segmentation.)

True. When you look at it like that it's not too bad. I guess we were just spoilt with the super cheap SinTech adapters etc. Reckon an adapted Apple 1TB blade will mount on there? That plus 2 256GB SM951s in RAID0 would be pretty decent.

True. When you look at it like that it's not too bad. I guess we were just spoilt with the super cheap SinTech adapters etc. Reckon an adapted Apple 1TB blade will mount on there? That plus 2 256GB SM951s in RAID0 would be pretty decent.

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in theory, with the correct adapter the apple ssd should. i have 2 apple ssd -> m2 adapters on the way and will report back on the fitting.

in theory, with the correct adapter the apple ssd should. i have 2 apple ssd -> m2 adapters on the way and will report back on the fitting.

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Based on what I have seen, I expect fit issues with the larger 1TB Apple blades and the adapters you write about. Looking forward to seeing the results of your investigation though - thank you for investing in the hardware to report your findings.

Based on what I have seen, I expect fit issues with the larger 1TB Apple blades and the adapters you write about. Looking forward to seeing the results of your investigation though - thank you for investing in the hardware to report your findings.

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Yep. The lack of space between the m.2 slots is super tight and limits functionality. Ill know more once i have the board and adapters in hand. there may be m2 extender boards, but again the clearance is tight.

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